In light of the latest Vioxx cover-up revealed Wednesday in a Houston court, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) made headlines with its disclosure a Vioxx study it published in 2000 may have been just as dishonest and deceptive.
According to the NEJM editorial (free PDF link below), Merck didn't count three heart attacks suffered by patients in its VIOXX Gastrointestinal Outcomes Research (VIGOR) study, further soft-pedaling the drug's toxic cardiovascular side effects.
After Vioxx was pulled from the market a year ago, NEJM reviewed the VIGOR study, only to discover the printed copy of the study and the version submitted on a disk didn't match: The negative cardiovascular data had been deleted from the paper copy the Journal used.
What's more, one of the authors of the study was the same Merck executive who testified in federal court earlier this week her company wasn't hiding anything about Vioxx. Not surprisingly, this latest revelation also pushed attorneys for the widow of Richard Irvin to seek a mistrial.
Just more evidence of the greed of the shameful excuse that passes for conventional medicine in America.
New England Journal of Medicine December 8, 2005 Free Full PDF Report
MSNBC December 8, 2005
The Street December 9, 2005